(CNN) — The United States was identified Wednesday as the world’s No. 1 user of targeted killings, largely as a result of its dependence on unmanned drone attacks in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
A report released by the United Nations called the drone attacks part of a “strongly asserted but ill-defined license to kill without accountability” and warned that they are contributing to an erosion of longstanding international rules governing warfare. It urged states to identify publicly the rules of international law believed to provide a basis for any attempted targeted killings as well as the rationale for deciding to kill instead of capture individuals. . . .
In the eight years of George W. Bush’s presidency, unmanned aircraft — or drones — attacked militant targets 45 times. Since President Obama took office, the numbers have risen sharply: 53 last year and 39 this year in Pakistan alone, according to the New America Foundation, a Washington foreign policy think tank. . . .
U.S. is world’s top user of targeted killings, U.N. says
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